A Yoga Hall for Christmas

Tony1 Comment

So after the last post, donations came in up to £500 in total, also enough blocks and trousers for 2 boxes to be sent out. The donations covered cement and sand for making the blocks we built with, and some of the build costs. Thanks so much to everyone who donated.

I went to one of the sellers of roof timbers… huge piles at the side of the road, and Jason and I selected the straightest we could find. I started to realise that I am now quite old, and my idea that I’d just skip about putting up A-frames was… er… quite optimistic. But suddenly there are old friends turning up and taking the project to heart, and their friends joining in, so the main part of the roof was up in 2 days. I had to buy the wood, so now I’m pretty broke, but hopefully we’ll find some more money from somewhere for roofing sheets, then the last big expense of cement and a truckload of river sand for the floor.

If you would like to help us with that, all donations are very gratefully received, through the donation page here.

The nice touches can come later, plaster the inside, outside too maybe. Paint it, build a store for mats & blocks. But as soon as that floor is dry, we go. Yoga starts. Many people have expressed interest, and I have gone from being that strange phenomenon of a Muzungu (European) on the compound, to someone that people laughingly tease ‘Tony, when are you going to start learning our language properly!’

So come on you adventurers, start planning your trip; we have a good thing starting here.

Happy Christmas and may your New Year bring joy and growth.

Love from us all

Start of a new Project

Tony4 Comments

Let’s formalise this ‘Yoga in Zambia’ thing into a new category on this blog. It’s a new project, and it ties in with the original purpose of this blog; to get an education at the deaf school for Ketty. Now not-so-young Ketty! She’s 11 years old now, wow, how the time has flown since a six year old and a sixty-something year old first formed their bond of friendship and started on this fundraising mission.

In the last few posts on this blog, you’ll see more about the Yoga group, of which Ketty is a part. Last year we started Yoga Asana (physical postures and movements) big time… classes between 5 and 25. Ketty has taken to Yoga so much; she’s the driving force behind our evening meditations (19.00 every evening UK time for 15 mins ‘through the ether’ as we can’t be together in person. If anyone who is reading this wants to join us you are so welcome. Ketty I believe will be a great Yoga teacher for deaf and hearing people, both.

You can see the movie I made when I got back in the spring of 2020 on
https://mandalayogaashram.blog/2020/05/19/mandala-yoga-ashram-gets-a-branch-in-africa/

We have dug the foundations, we are making the concrete blocks ourselves, then we will lay them. It’s a labour of love. Please help us buy materials.

Now things have moved apace and with this Covid stuff, well Zambia closed down, tourists stopped passing through on their way to the game parks, and the Lodge stopped paying wages. Gradually everyone went back to their own work, caring for home and family and working the fields for the coming growing season.

The downside was, we lost the use of our lovely big Yoga Hall, so unless people practice on the ground outside (they have done it in their enthusiasm, but now the rainy season comes), we have to arrange something else. There is no other way than to build our own Yoga Hall!

  • We have nowhere now to practice.
  • first sketches
  • Marking out foundations
  • Everyone helps dig foundations
  • Alice works hard
  • River sand from the bush
  • Cement for the block maker
  • making our own blocks

I know I know, the problem of poverty is a huge one but hey, you have to start somewhere. If you are moved to help me, then please donate whatever you can.

Tony

Building is straightforward… you just do it!! Alice has enough land on her bit of the compound to build there, next to her house. We’ll have an open pillared structure with a roof to keep off the rain of course, like the example above. I design with the help of an architect friend.

We need Help. no other way to say it! I know I know, the problem of poverty is a huge one (see my previous posts) but hey, you have to start somewhere. This is me making a start, and if you are moved to help me, then please donate whatever you can. Every little helps. Mostly we need money for materials, and paying our block makers (see picture above). We have the expertise to build ourselves and with my carpentry skills I’ve designed, and can build, the roof trusses. I just need to get out there this winter.

To donate to this project, please go to the DONATE page on this site

Contact me on ulingana2016@gmail.com or using the dialog box below

Here’s a short movie I made for the Mandala Ashram (where I live) website. They support me, especially my mentor Swami Nishchalananda… he’s 100 per cent behind this project.

Thanks so much, love from Us.